


For Life

by foxboxtango



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Hulk shows in Bruce's eyes, M/M, Nightmares, Sort of hurt/comfort, Tony doesn't know how to comfort people, but is surprisingly good at it nonetheless, somewhat angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-10 00:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxboxtango/pseuds/foxboxtango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And if they were scared, scared to love and to lose, then you could be damn well sure they'd protect each other.  To death and beyond, if need be.<br/>But more importantly, for life.</p><p>(Bruce has a nightmare)</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Life

An anguished roar woke Tony and he bolted upright, shaking off the last vestiges of sleep and looking around with slightly bleary eyes.  Bruce was sitting at the end of their bed, shoulders shaking violently but never once uttering a single noise.  Never, ever making a sound.

"Bruce, what?" Tony asked, rubbing his eyes once or twice, completely clueless as to what was going on.

Bruce didn't reply.  His silence filled the room, an ominous presence.

Tony escaped from the tangled sheets and padded around the bed to kneel in front of the hunched figure.

"What's up?"

A hand shot out to latch onto his right shoulder.  Tony started, but didn't move away, even when the pressure increased and it was painful.  Eventually, Bruce looked up.  Tony sucked in a quick breath.

His eyes were so _green_.

Green.  Green like the leaves of the trees in forests and woods and so much not like the desert and sand and Afghanistan and _emptiness_.

Tony felt like drowning in them.

The green eyes disappeared behind a fringe of curly hair as Bruce looked down again.  Tony knew something was wrong with Bruce.  Even the self-confessed emotionally repressed genius could see that, but he had no idea what it was.

"Nightmare," a voice growled out, and it was somewhere between Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk, and Tony wasn't quite sure who was more in control.  He knew a thing or two about nightmares, though.  His right arm reached out and his fingers closed around Bruce's own shoulder.  Tony very deliberately didn't say anything.

Gradually the silence became less oppressive, less constricting, less frightening, and the grip on Tony became less painful and more grounding, as though Bruce needed something to tether himself to reality.

When Bruce glanced back up, his eyes were their normal _brown_.

Brown.  Brown like the bark of trees in forests and woods and so much not liked the desert and sand and Afghanistan and _emptiness_.

They were solid and sad and warm and hurt and _there_ , all at the same time, and Tony felt like taking Bruce away and keeping him safe and showing him how much he loved him so that he'd never feel pain again.

"I missed."  The voice was slightly higher now, and with less rumble in it.  Bruce looked terrified.   "After you sent the nuke through the portal and fell...the Hulk missed and you _kept falling_ until you hit the ground and splattered like so much red and gold paint-"  He broke off and shut his eyes, breathing quickly.

Tony's own eyes welled up.

"Hey, big guy," he whispered.  "I'm not paint, you caught me hours before I hit the round and I'm here now and it's _okay_.  I swear."

Bruce sighed and leaned forward, rolling his shoulders and folding his back to touch his forehead to Tony's.

"I know.  I _know_ , Tony.  I'm a genius, remember?"

Tony shrugged.

"Yeah, but Big Green isn't.  He isn't rationalising his fears like you do.  To him, he's probably back there, watching me fall over and over again and not being able to do anything to stop it.  And I'm damned if I don't do the same.  If I had been with _you_ instead of the Capsicle when the helicarrier had exploded, would it have been any different?  I don't know.  But the point is I wasn't, and you fell, and then the helicarrier was back on course and I didn't see you again for hours and hours and I knew you'd turn up, I knew it, but what if you had been hurt, what if you couldn't have come back?  And then you did and you proved me right in front of all the others, including Spangles - _especially_ Spangles - and I never thanked you properly for that."

Bruce let out a dry chuckle, tinged with wetness that he hadn't let escape yet.

"So, how about we make a deal.  You always come back to me, and I'll stop falling out of space.  Or getting defenestrated from particularly tall buildings by Demi-gods.  You know - uncontrollable falling."  
"Deal."

They both knew they could't really ensure they held up their ends of the bargain.  Tony fell from the sky a lot more than was strictly healthy (you could make a rather convincing argument that _any_ experience of falling very quickly with no sure method of stopping yourself was unhealthy, though Tony would probably either ignore you, or inform you that a little danger was good for a person's life), and there could, conceivably, come a day when Bruce might not be able to get back.  But neither of them lingered too long on those thoughts, and if they did so unwillingly, then one would bring the other out of it.  Usually with science or sex.

So Bruce let a couple tears fall and Tony tenderly wiped them away, and Bruce traced the wet tracks on Tony's face with a calloused finger and neither of them said any more on the subject because when you were as loaded with emotional baggage as the two of them were, you learned how to push certain things aside.

Neither nightmare would be forgotten, but they were partners.  Science bros.  _Avengers_.

And if they were scared, scared to love and to lose, then you could be damn well sure they'd protect each other.  To death and beyond, if need be.

But more importantly, _for life_.

**Author's Note:**

> (I like using the word 'and' a lot, apparently)
> 
> I had this idea when I was going to sleep, which is pretty much when I have all of my ideas, because my muses seem to enjoy torturing me with the decision of writing down a potentially amazing story (they usually aren't) or actually getting enough sleep overnight for once (I usually don't).
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! I've got a bunch of drabbles in the Avengers 'verse, but most of them aren't finished, so you might not be seeing them for a while. I've got a Skyfall 00Q one as well, if you're interested at all...
> 
> Cheers!  
> Foxboxtango :)


End file.
